23th & 24th of April - A weekend in Dassa

A few weekends ago we were invited by Daniel and Christian, two bother who work as Day Volunteers as Translators in the Hospital Ward. (Mercy Ships employs about 150 Day Volunteers in each country to serve along side us, as translators, deck hands, galley workers, trainers...) Kate and Suzie have gotten to know them well and they were keen to show us their home town Dassa, about 4 hours drive north of Cotonou. Dassa is known as the City of 42 Mountains.

We set out on Saturday morning all 11 piled into a mini bus and started our adventure. It was a beautiful drive through the outskirts of Cotonou and into the country side of Benin and a real privilege to be accompanied by Daniel and Christian who could tell us the ins and outs of what we were seeing.

On the road to Dassa, 200 km and 4 hours north of Cotonou, Benin

The town of Dassa, from one of the 42 hills (not quiet mountains).

We were invited by family of Daniel and Christian to share a local drink made from the mahogany tree - we all tasted it, but I did not manage the whole cup - very strong and bitter tasting.

Our faithful Mini bus that took us all the way with out breaking down. Every trip you take in Benin you expect at some point to break down or at least have flat tire - but we made it through the weekend with neither event taking place. In the background is the hotel we stayed at for the night. Before we started our adventure we booked at a hotel, but once we arrived and discovered a night club on the group floor and room could be rented by the hour we decided to look for somewhere else. We stayed at the very fresh and clean Ava Maria Guest House in the centre of Dassa.

Hippo Hunting at 7 am in the morning.... Suzie a Nurse from the UK was very excited that there was a village close to Dassa that was famous for it's hippos. So all of us joined in on her excitement and went with for a guided hippo hunt. After a 30 minute walk and much negotiating with the local village chief we sighted a hippo (we think).

The black spot in the middle of the river was the hippo, there were 4 of them but they were very happy to stay underwater and not show themselves. To be honest i was very happy to see them at a distance because the idea of being charged by a hippo was not appealing. Also i think as a South African I have seen plenty of hippos in my life time, and proudly boasted about our beautiful Kruger Park.

Before we headed home we needed to fill up with petrol (gas). In West Africa outside of the major cities there are very few gas pumps. Petrol is sold by the glass jar. It holds at least 10 liters many be more of petrol and is poured directly into your tank through a funnel. They do filter it through a piece of fabric as pour it. Petrol cost about 285 CFA per liter which is about R5, or 50 USc ( my very rough calculations).

Drive through shopping - as we entered the outskirts of Cotonou, we were strongly encourage by the street vendors to buy local products.

It was a very special week and a real treat to see the country of Benin through the eyes of Daniel and Christian and hear them speak proudly of their history and how far they have come as a nation over the last few years. A few short years ago Benin was ruled by a Marxist Government, but the new democratic government has made a big difference in Benin and process is visible and tangible for the people.